China Lakes and Mountains

Many people think of China as large cities with millions of people. While this is true China has some of the most beautiful wild scenery in the world yet untouched. Above is Heavenly Lake with the mountains in the background. This is located just outside of Urumqi In Xinjinag province. It is one of the most favorite Honeymoon spots in all of China. It is often visited by taking a Silk Road Tour located in northwest China. On the way from Urumqi are Yurts that you can either have lunch, dinner or even stay the night for a unqiue experience. A new DVD available by the BBC is called "Wild China" and is available from Amazon.com 9 hours of fantastic beautiful remote China. I just watched it and it is the best I have seen and really gives you some insights to many of the remote places you may visit without hords of foreign tourists. For more information and insights you might check out my web site at www.interlakechinatours.com or contact me directly at interlak@eskimo.com I will be going up on the Silk Road this fall checking out some of the new spots that I have not visited in my 25 years of travel within China. Tours to China is my business. Travel through out China is my Passion.   Click on the photo for a full screen view.

Tips on Eating Chinese Food

As a China Tour Operator, one of the most popular questions I am asked is about the food. There is a vast variety of food. Above is a typical lunch for a private tour. You can advise your guide of what you like and what you can not eat. I do not like tofu or spicy food myself. Pork and beef are common and the fish is fantastic as most are raised in ponds these days and are alive just before they are cooked so they are very fresh. Freshness is typical in China and the vegetables are delivered daily to the restaurants often just picked that morning or the day before. Breakfasts are very large western style buffets in the city hotels but Chinese style breakfasts in the countryside consisting of usually eggs, tomatoes, bread sticks or rice buns and maybe some vegetables. Dinners are as large as lunches so you never go hungry. MSG is used in most food and you can request that they leave it out in private tours. Group Tours the food is prepared before you arrive and can not be adjusted for individuals. MSG can cause constipation and is used mostly in sauces and gravies so go light on eating those. You will see food in stalls just about everywhere but I caution my clients about eating there as you do not know if the food has been refrigerated or not and you do not want to become ill. Chinese cook just about everything including lettuce. For fruits the standard, "If you can peel it; you can eat it" works for everything. They even peel grapes when they eat them. For more food information I will be writing more about it in future blogs.  25 Years of doing Quality Tours To China.   Check our web site at www.interlakechinatours.com  

Silk Thread Tapestry Art

One of the things I love doing in China is looking for art work that is exceptional. One never knows where you will find it in China. Old hand carved wooden windows, temples being torn down, remote villages with shops or right under your nose in plain sight. The silk tapestries shown above I found in a rug factory being done by women with exceptional ability. These are all done with silk threads dyed to the colors they needed and then hand done without any pattern at all. They sew like they are painting a master piece. Each one of these were done over a period of a year working day after day free hand using only the ideas they had in their heads before they started. Silk radiates light and hung on the wall with some direct and some indirect lighting you can see it almost come alive. Expensive yes but unique one of a kind as no two are ever the same. Silk rugs also have this same quality and are excellent for hanging on walls. An art tour of China is very special meeting the artists as well as seeing art in different areas. Earlier I did a blog on my collection of Stone Tea Pots hand made by artists never intended to be used but appreciated for their art value. Tours to China is my business and the Art of China is one of my passions. Click on the photos for full screen viewing.

The Golden Tower Temple and Monastery

As a China Tour Operator doing Tours to China and Tibet, I travel through out China every year for the past 25 years.  I check hotels, sites and new remote unusual places to send my clients. Like Churches in Europe, you can see too many temples in China as well. I try to visit as many as possible so I can weed out the interesting ones from the ordinary ones and my clients are directed to the most interesting temples. The temple above is not old being built in 2001 but it is unusual in that there is $2.8 million dollars of 24ct. gold on the outside of this temple. On a sunny day you can see the golden tower from many miles away, thus the name Golden Tower in English. It is located in Sichuan province at 10,000 feet above sea level. The art work all hand done is absolutely fantastic and certainly a work of art not to be missed if you are in the area. My Ecological Tour on my web site includes a visit to this wonderful site. Not far away is a Monastery with over 200 monks which you can visit as well and tour the inside. All the Monks there are very friendly and both times I have been there, we were the only visitors for that day. For more interesting places to visit in China sign up to receive new postings by email as I write them. Click on the photos for full screen views!